Safe Routes to Schools - Lesson Plans
Marin County Bicycle Coalition

The Marin County (CA) Bicycle Coalition is one of the leading advocates of the Safe Routes to Schools program, which is making it possible and desirable for children to safely walk or bike to school. With MCBC's lesson plans, the program becomes not just a great way to get to school but a part of the school day as well.

The lesson plans convey the many reasons to establish safe routes for walking and biking to school, as well as ways to make them as safe as possible. "Safety Art" (1 and up) is an overview of both benefits of walking or biking and safety tips. "Stop! Look! Listen!" teaches 2nd graders those all-important words to remember when crossing a street.

Some lesson plans engage students' minds, such as the Jeopardy!-styled "The Traffic Safety Game Show" (4). Others are outdoor activities, like "The Bicycle Safety Rodeo" (4).

In several lessons, students become community planners. Students draw out their route to school and even take inventories of safety features and hazards in "Mapping" (4-8). "Eco Travel Log" (5-8) and "Transportation Choices and the Environment" (7 and up) are superb resources for cultivating environmental awareness.

A curriculum guide (PDF) is provided to give short descriptions of every lesson plan.

These lesson plans bring out the importance of incorporating more transportation choices to and from schools. Walking and biking to school brings kids a down-to-earth awareness of their neighborhood, encourages health and fitness, reduces traffic and pollution, and can create a sense of community. Yet, according to the CDC, only 15% of children in the U.S. walk or bike to school (down from 50% in 1969). Concurrently, the number of overweight children has doubled in the last 20 to 30 years, according the the National Institutes of Health. Safe Routes to Schools is a way of bringing about a revival of walking and biking to school and the benefits that come with it.